Lessons from the Marvel Movie Villains

Learn to be good from the worst.

By Wesley Baines

Paramount Pictures

One of the ways in which we become better is to learn from the mistakes of bad people.

And if that’s the case, how much more is there to learn from supervillains?

The villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are an interesting lot. Some are truly epic villains, worthy of myth and legend. Others have just passed on through, and we’re still not quite sure what they even wanted. But regardless of how much fortune, power, or charisma each of these people and beings hold, each of them has caused untold amounts of misery and destruction for their own gain.

When anyone is bad to those around them, they’re actually also hurting themselves—we’re all in this life together, after all. The misery of the few leads to the misery of all.

The essence of the supervillain is selfishness, a state of being that takes many forms. Let’s take a look at how this manifests in the Marvel villain lineup, and at how we can learn to be better from each of them.